Emergy Evaluation of a Mountain Socio-Economic System and Traditional Agroproduction: A Case Study in Indian Trans-Himalaya

The emergy evaluation of the Ladakh socio-economic system and traditional agriculture is presented. Ladakh is a region of West Himalaya (State of Jammu and Kashmir, northern India), geographically classified as “high cold desert” (altitude ranging from 2300 m to 7672 m a.s.l.), located among the Karakoram Range, the Himalayan Range and the Tibetan Plateau. The region is poor in natural resources and, for centuries, the population has led a self-reliant existence, mainly based upon subsistence agriculture and caravan trade. The local traditional agriculture, still the backbone of regional economy, is governed by seasonal cycles and supported by the careful management of environmental scarce resources (e.g. meltwater from glaciers) and man-made soil properties. This system is diagrammed and the UEVs of some of the main products (barley, wheat, peas, mustard and fodder) are calculated. At the regional level, population growth, the development of tourism, and the progressive openness to external resources characterize the current development trend, especially in the city of Leh. The steps towards modernization (e.g. infrastructural development or agriculture mechanization) are encouraged for economic purposes; however, they may also bring about unsustainable behavior in the use of resources and land, and a loss of traditional knowledge and environmental wisdom. The analysis of emergy flows and indices highlights some peculiarities of the area and the crucial role of environmental resources involved in local processes and activities.